Report: Walz Denied Catholic Schools’ Security Funding Despite $17 Billion Surplus

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) declined requests from Catholic leaders for small-scale security funding for nonpublic schools, despite a record $17.6 billion budget surplus and the approval of similar grants for public schools, according to a report by the National Catholic Register.

The Minnesota Catholic Conference — which represents the state’s six dioceses — sent letters to Walz in both 2022 and 2023 requesting that Catholic and other nonpublic schools be included in state-funded school security programs. The group cited ongoing concerns over school shootings, referencing the March 2023 Covenant School massacre in Nashville, where six people were killed by Audrey Hale, a 28-year-old who identified as transgender.

“There are approximately 72,000 students enrolled in Independent, Catholic, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim nonpublic schools in our state,” the Catholic Conference wrote in a 2023 letter. “The exclusion of one sector of schools … is a discriminatory act against our students.”

The organization asked Walz to expand eligibility for the proposed $50 million Building and Cyber Security Grant Program, which was included in his budget recommendation but applied only to public schools. Since 2020, nonpublic schools have lobbied to join Minnesota’s Safe Schools Program, which provides state aid for emergency response training, security upgrades, mental health services, and other resources. Currently, the program does not cover nonpublic schools, charter schools, or intermediate school districts.

The Catholic Conference also noted that in 2022, when a bill to provide $44 per student in security aid to all schools stalled, Minnesota’s bishops urged Walz to call a special session to approve the expansion. Despite bipartisan support in the legislature — including from several members of Walz’s own Democrat-Farmer-Labor Party — no special session was called.

Meanwhile, in 2023 Walz approved state funding for a “trans refuge” law designed to protect individuals seeking gender-related medical treatments in Minnesota, according to advocacy group OutFront Minnesota.

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr